54cm bike

da1esman

Looking to purchase a road bike for my nephew as he is keen to move on from his MTB.

What is the best out there for £500 or they about :?: :?: .

Living on the dales I am limited on what available for the road most are MTB or 1k plus road bikes. So having to look on line for a bike, so any feed back from cyclist's who ride or have ridden with in this price range would be a great help.

Have no plans on going down the Halfords route :twisted:

passout

Look at Merlin cycles own range of bikes from 350 pound up. Decathalon too.

drlodge

I was going to mention Decathlon (B'Twin range), also Merlin and I think Rutland Water Cycles (or whatever they're called) had some very good value bikes on offer.

bontie

At £500, source a second hand bike that fits.

dj58

These usually have some discounted bikes http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p0/R ... oad-Racing

galatzo

bontie wrote:

At £500, source a second hand bike that fits.

Defo - will save an upgrade in a few months time !

arlowood

bontie wrote:

At £500, source a second hand bike that fits.

As an example - how about this just listed in the classifieds:-

viewtopic.php?f=40090&t=13023765

10-speed 105 and some not too shabby wheels. What's not to like??

or save yourself even more money with this:-

viewtopic.php?f=40090&t=13023536

or if you're feeling really adventurous - buy a suitable frameset such as this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genesis-Volan ... 6b3fe2744e

and build it up with nearly new components off the classifieds on here or Fleabay.

Took that route myself to build up a flat bar road bike for my grandson using a Genesis Volant frameset from Paul Milnes. He's now been riding it for several months and is chuffed to bits with it.

daniel_b

arlowood wrote:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genesis-Volan ... 6b3fe2744e

and build it up with nearly new components off the classifieds on here or Fleabay.

Took that route myself to build up a flat bar road bike for my grandson using a Genesis Volant frameset from Paul Milnes. He's now been riding it for several months and is chuffed to bits with it.

That's really nice - is the idea to drop bar convert it for him at some point in the future?
Oh and that nearly new Ribble looks a helluvva deal.

arlowood

Daniel B wrote:

That's really nice - is the idea to drop bar convert it for him at some point in the future?
Oh and that nearly new Ribble looks a helluvva deal.

I did consider building it with drop bars from the outset but he's a bit conservative so I opted for the flat bars to let him transition from his old MTB more easily. Not sure if he would ultimately go for drop bars but the conversion would be fairly straightforward with bars (that I already have) and some 10-speed 105 5700 STI's which can be sourced relatively cheaply from the classifieds

nferrar

Your thread title concerns me a bit - buy one of the model suggested already in the thread (or something else) but buy it in the right size. One manufacturer's 54cm frame can be very different proportions from another manufacturuer's 54cm frame

daniel_b

arlowood wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

That's really nice - is the idea to drop bar convert it for him at some point in the future?
Oh and that nearly new Ribble looks a helluvva deal.

I did consider building it with drop bars from the outset but he's a bit conservative so I opted for the flat bars to let him transition from his old MTB more easily. Not sure if he would ultimately go for drop bars but the conversion would be fairly straightforward with bars (that I already have) and some 10-speed 105 5700 STI's which can be sourced relatively cheaply from the classifieds

Top job Sir

To the OP - if you want to go the new bike route, and you/he can find another £100, AND this is available in the right size, this could prove quite a deal with Shimano 105 - I know Decathlon have been mentioned already:
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/alur-700-road-bike-id_8290145.html